Series: Edie Spence #1
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Published by: St. Martin's Press on May 22, 2012
Format: eBook
Pages: 352
Source: Purchased
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Nursing school prepared Edie Spence for a lot of things. Burn victims? No problem. Severed limbs? Piece of cake. Vampires? No way in hell. But as the newest nurse on Y4, the secret ward hidden in the bowels of County Hospital, Edie has her hands full with every paranormal patient you can imagine—from vamps and were-things to zombies and beyond…
Edie’s just trying to learn the ropes so she can get through her latest shift unscathed. But when a vampire servant turns to dust under her watch, all hell breaks loose. Now she’s haunted by the man’s dying words—Save Anna—and before she knows it, she’s on a mission to rescue some poor girl from the undead. Which involves crashing a vampire den, falling for a zombie, and fighting for her soul. Grey’s Anatomy was never like this…
A fantastic new addition to urban fantasy with an imperfect but exceptional heroine. Edie’s job will make your work day feel like a breeze!
When Edie Spence became a nurse she never imagined working at County Hospital’s Y4, a special secret wing that treats supernaturals and that she’d have to make a deal with beings called Shadows, in order to save her drug addicted brother’s life. When she loses her recent patient Mr. November due to her own negligence, Edie is determined to carry out his last wish in finding a young girl named Anna. Her guilt and compassion will lead her into a dangerous world of non-sparkly vampires, shape-shifters and yes, even zombies! Think your job is tough? Try walking in Edie’s scrubs for a day!
“Because the monster you knew was always better than all the ones you didn’t.”
There are very few heroines in urban fantasy that lack supernatural abilities and work in the medical field, and that’s why I was instantly drawn to Edie, she’s just a regular young woman trying to survive. She’s thrown into some pretty dangerous situations but tends to handle things with a pretty level headed personality…I don’t think I’d be so excited to come close to being killed every night at work! Edie’s decisions are sometimes questionable, from her one-night stands to her penchant for walking right into harms way (with no supernatural powers I might add), but her heart is always in the right place, it’s her mortality that makes you fully connect with her character.
“I imagine he had to do his grocery shopping late at night, so that mothers didn’t yank stunned children out of his path. But I was made of sterner stuff. Plus, I was scheduled to die in T minus three days. I could cut a man some slack.”
In the midst of all the chaos in Edie’s world, there’s a little time for romance in this busy nurse’s life. I was hoping things with Asher the shapeshifter would work out, but then Ti came into the picture and my hopes were tossed out the window. Don’t get me wrong, I like Ti’s character, he’s kind and protective, but I just didn’t want Edie to get involved with him romantically, that and the fact that he’s a zombie had a little to do with my stance. As much as I tried I couldn’t connect with their romance, let alone read about them having sex…maybe I watch too much The Walking Dead and have trouble associating zombies with romance, I really don’t know.
“Fear and adrenaline and the magic of good sex could only last so long.”
The world building in Nightshifted breaks most of the stereotypes of the paranormal myths that we’re accustomed to, which I love. Vampires are not made by just a simple blood exchange and have human servants called Daytimers. Ms. Alexander does a phenomenal job of vividly painting a scene with her writing, transporting the reader into her dark, supernatural world. There are a few unanswered questions that I’m hoping will get hashed out in the next installment, but nothing that leaves you baffled or throwing your book across the room. I’m sure Edie has some more adventures ahead of her and I plan on sticking by her side as they unfold!
Books in the Series:
The concept of the book sounds so fun! 3.5 isn’t a terrible rating, it just didn’t wow you though, right? That was how I felt about Angie Fox’s Immortally Yours. Many good qualities but not enough to make me want to read the book again but glad I read it once.
That’s how I feel about this series so far. Great for a one time read.
It was a fun read. I enjoyed the second book more, there was a bit more action and Edie grew on me. I’m currently on the third book and find it’s the best in the series so far.
I really didn’t like this book, but I gave #2, Moonshifted a shot and enjoyed it more. Like the secondary characters more than Edie though. I’d definitely recommend getting them from the library.
I enjoyed Moonshifted more as well!
This series has been an upward slope for me so stick with it; the next two installments get better and better. Ti was the main element that dampened my enjoyment of this book too. His relationship with Edie was just gross.
So many reasons why I want to read this book
– my sister is a nurse so I feel related to Edie already (weird, I know)
– buffet of creatures
– copy sitting in my kindle for a long time
So I don’t know WHY I haven’t read it yet. I should really ease off the review tours and request so I can just relax & read and not worry about deadlines and all that crap!
Lovely review, Lori!
This sounds so good. I’m going to have to pick it up
I enjoyed the first book and I’m currently reading book 2 (just started) so its good to read that most like it even more than book 1 😉
I have this one on my NOOK…great review Lori 🙂 I heard it was a pretty good series..hope I can read this one soon 🙂